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INTERNATIONAL BRANGUS AUXILIARY AWARDS ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS
by Ginger Pritchard, International Brangus Auxiliary, scholarship chair
The International Brangus Auxiliary (IBA) promotes the education of Brangus youth through the awarding of scholarships. The quality of applicants is extremely high which makes for a challenging job for the IBA scholarship committee in selecting recipients. This year, the IBA is awarding $20,000, for a historical total of $498,000.
The most prestigious award is the Suzy Graven Memorial Founder’s Scholarship. Reed Thorn from Arp, Texas will be a freshman at Texas A&M University this fall majoring in biological and agricultural engineering and he is the recipient of this scholarship. Thorn’s plans include developing his herd of Brangus, Ultrablack, and Brangus Optimizer females. He is excited at the tremendous contribution Brangus genetics has had on his herd of exotic heifers he has raised since he was sevenyears-old.
The recipient of the Ken Hughes Memorial Scholarship is Molly Parker of Ben Lomond, Arkansas. She will be attending the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she will major in agribusiness and accounting. At the age of 11, she selected her first show heifer, and she was hooked. Traveling with and living at Red Bud Farms, she has learned about everything from selecting genetics to cutting hay. A future goal is to assist small farms in making sound financial decisions to stabilize the market for themselves and others.
Earning an upperclassman scholarship is Trevor Haney from Hope Hull, Alabama. Trevor is a student at Mississippi State University majoring in agriculture education, leadership and communications. He has worked with his dad at Johnston Cattle Co. learning the cattle and Brangus business alongside him. Each summer Haney halter breaks 10 head. He hopes to be involved with the Brangus industry for years to come. Holli Baker, Burton, Texas, is an agriculture communications and journalism major at Texas A&M University by way of Blinn College. She will receive an upperclassman scholarship. She is a seasoned veteran of the showring. Her goal is to follow in her family’s footsteps and raise not only high selling show cattle but to also be admired as a respected cattlewoman.
Jacob Jones, Stillwater, Oklahoma, is an agriculture education major at Northern Oklahoma College located in Stillwater. Jacob will receive an upperclassman scholarship. He was the 2020-2021 IJBBA president. Jones has always been willing to step up to the plate and assist any junior exhibitor or visit with breeders. He was instrumental in planning and organizing the most recent Brangus Legacy Livestock Leadership Conference when it was held in Oklahoma.
Kyler Klepac is an undergraduate scholarship award recipient. Klepac, from Sweeny, Texas, will attend Texas A&M University majoring in animal science. She has exhibited both Red Brangus and black Brangus. Klepac developed a marketing site on social media, which has assisted in marketing her family’s cattle rather than taking them to sale barns during this last uncertain year. She has taken advantage of flushing and using embryo transfer to improve the genetics of her cattle.
